At 6:00 PM on Monday, January 3, 2022, Mayor Meg Grenier read the following statement: this is the Village of Menands Board of Trustees, semi-monthly meeting. I am Mayor Meg Grenier and as it is 6:00 o’clock, I will call this meeting to order. For anyone outside the village staff who is attending this video conference, I would ask if you would please identify yourselves. The mayor asked them to mute their microphones.
Mayor Grenier then did a roll call of Village staff: Deputy Mayor Seth Harris, present, Trustee Foley, absent, Trustee Brian Marsh, present, Trustee Timothy Lane, present, Clerk Don Handerhan, absent, and Treasurer Bill Smith, present. On behalf of the Village Board, I would ask all residents that we please keep our First Responders, all essential workers and those affected by this pandemic in our thoughts and prayers.
On September 2nd, 2021 Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation (S.50001/A.40001) extending virtual access to public meetings under New York State’s Open Meetings Law, which allows New Yorkers to virtually participate in local government meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. The legislation which was initially implemented by Executive Order during last year’s State of Emergency allows state and local government meetings that are normally held in-person to be held remotely instead, as long as the public has the ability to view or listen to the meeting and as long as the meeting is recorded and later transcribed. This statutory change will reduce the need for the congregation at public meetings while the Delta variant is prevalent while ensuring the public business can continue.
Mayor Grenier turned the workshop over to Treasurer Smith who read the following notice:
Budget Workshop Notice
A Budget Workshop for the Village of Menands will be held by the Board of Trustees, via Google Meet, on Wednesday, March 9th, 2022, at 5:30 P.M. Such meetings are open to the public; there will be no public comment. To join the meeting please follow this link: meet.google.com/ujz-kykz-vdd or Join by phone: (US) +1 617-675-4444 PIN: 248 127 615 4210#
Treasurer Smith presented general statements concerning the proposed budget, after which he reviewed the proposed budget line by line and answered any questions.
Several Board Members thanked Treasurer Smith for his hard work on the budget and for being under the Tax Cap.
After which the Mayor hearing no other questions closed the Budget Workshop at 6:56 P.M.